Most webhook bot problems come down to one of three things: the bot is not receiving the kind of message it needs, it does not have access to the ticket, or it has access but not permission to send. Work through the symptom that matches yours.
If you are not sure how bot access is meant to work, What a webhook bot can do in the Unified Inbox explains the model.
The bot answers guests, but does nothing once an operator replies
Cause. The bot is not listening for operator messages, so it never sees what your team wrote.
Fix. Go to Messaging > Inbox Settings > Bots, open the bot, select Edit on the Info block, and tick Operator Messages (OperatorMessage) under Webhook Events. Save. A bot with only User Messages (Message) ticked sees the guest's half of the conversation and nothing else.
This is the most common cause of all, because a bot set up to work on its own was probably only ever configured to listen for guest messages.
The bot never sees a ticket at all
Check these in order:
Is the bot on the right team? Go to Messaging > Inbox Settings > Teams, open the team the ticket is assigned to, and check the Bot Access section. A bot only receives tickets for teams it belongs to, or tickets assigned to it directly.
Is the ticket assigned to that team? A ticket sitting with a different team, or with no team, does not reach the bot.
Is the webhook URL correct? Open the bot under Messaging > Inbox Settings > Bots and check the URL. It has to start with
https://and has to be reachable from outside your network.
The bot receives calls but rejects them
Cause. The bot is verifying the signature on each webhook call and the signing key it holds does not match the one Bookboost is signing with. This usually happens after a key has been regenerated, or when the key was never given to whoever built the bot.
Fix. Confirm the bot is using the current signing key. The key cannot be read back from Bookboost, so if nobody has a copy you will need to generate a new one and update the bot to match. See Webhook bot credentials: the signing key and API keys.
If the bot can receive but cannot post anything back into Bookboost, check its API key instead. A deleted key stops working immediately.
The bot drafts replies but never sends them
Cause. This is expected behaviour, not a fault. Team access lets a bot read and draft. Sending needs the bot assigned to the ticket itself.
Fix. Assign the bot to the ticket, or set up an assignment rule. See Letting a webhook bot reply, not just draft.
An assignment rule is not picking tickets up
Check the order. Rules are evaluated in priority order and the first match wins, so a broad rule sitting above a specific one will swallow the tickets you meant for the specific one. The Assignment rules button at the top of the Bots screen shows every rule ranked from High Priority to Low Priority, and you reorder them by dragging.
Check the rule is saved and the conditions actually match. A keyword rule matches what the guest wrote, not what you expected them to write.
Check the rule is active. An inactive rule stays in the list without doing anything.
Remember rules are not retroactive. A new rule affects incoming messages, not tickets already open.
Everything looks right and it still does nothing
At this point the problem is most likely on the bot's own side rather than in Bookboost. Ask whoever built or supplies the bot to check that their service is receiving the calls Bookboost is making and responding to them. If they confirm nothing is arriving, contact us with the bot's name and an example ticket and we will look from our side.
Common questions
How do I tell whether a bot is working at all?
The Bots list under Messaging > Inbox Settings > Bots shows a status for each bot. If a bot you expect to be working shows as inactive, start there.
My AI Agent stopped answering. Is this the same problem?
Probably not, but check which bot you are looking at. AI Agents and webhook bots share the same list under Inbox Settings > Bots, so the screen looks the same — but an AI Agent answers guests itself using knowledge you give it, and none of the webhook settings above apply to it. For AI Agent problems see Common issues and how to resolve them.
Can I test a bot without a real guest?
Create a ticket and assign it to the bot. Any message on that ticket then goes to the bot's webhook URL.
Where do I check what events the bot is subscribed to?
Open the bot under Messaging > Inbox Settings > Bots. The Webhook Events row on the Info block shows which are ticked, and Edit lets you change them at any time.
What to do next
If your bot answers but does not know which stay the guest is asking about, see Giving your bot the booking reference.
Getting help
Open Help at the bottom of the left menu and choose Talk to Us, or email support@bookboost.io. Including the bot's name and a link to an example ticket makes this much faster to diagnose.